Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirarakim
I also am not really sure if it is just kids watching these stories of youth. I kind of get the notion that there is a sense of nostalgia for youth in many anime series, hence why we have so many younger characters.
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I have seen it argued that there is a great deal of nostalgia for high school among Japanese adults. They idealize that time as the last period of freedom before the demands of the Japanese workplace radically restrict their lives. I have no personal experience to know how true this is, but I have seen it mentioned more than once when it comes to anime.
Nevertheless it is pretty clear to me that the emphasis on stories about adolescents and young adults is largely market-driven. While Japanese adults continue to read manga, they generally stop watching anime if they ever did. That makes anime adaptations a useful marketing tool for manga aimed at young people, but much less effective in reaching their parents.
Nostalgia seems to be a strong component of adult Japanese culture.
Bartender is filled to the brim with nostalgia, but you can also feel a nostalgic sensibility in other adult works like
Saraiya Goy-ou and
Hyouge Mono. I suspect this emphasis on nostalgia derives from what I detect as a stronger historical sensibility among the Japanese as befits a culture that spans many centuries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by judasmartel
Okay, so why would the OP think themes like friendship are immature?
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You would have to ask him, but I think he is either not watching the right shows or concentrating his attention elsewhere. There are plenty of shows which depict mature adult friendships. Along with
Bartender and
Saraiya Goy-ou, I would add
Monster,
Mouryou no Hako,
Oh! Edo Rocket,
Saiunkoku Monogatari,
Seirei no Moribito, and
Usagi Drop, just as a start.